Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transportable foldable bridge that has a folded transport state and an unfolded installation state.
Description of the Background Art
Foldable transportable bridges, which are also known as scissors-type bridges, are already known.
For example, DE 10 2004 049 969 B3 and DE 10 2010 038 127 A1 describe scissors-type bridges, which are transported on a transport vehicle, in particular a tracked vehicle.
The foldable transportable bridges, in particular scissors-type bridges, all share the common feature that they are composed of two bridge elements that are connected to each other in an articulating fashion; in the transport state, when the bridges are being transported by the transport vehicle, the two bridge elements are folded together and in the installation state, the two bridge elements are unfolded and form a road surface.
In some situations, the bridges can already be changed into an unfolded state already on the transport vehicles in order to then be brought—by means of corresponding devices on the transport vehicle—into a desired installation position over an obstacle such as a river or trench. In this way, it is possible to quickly cross over obstacles such as rivers or trenches.
Since the bridge elements have a high dead weight, the weight distribution of the bridge elements on the transport vehicle plays an important role.
Particularly when unfolding the bridge elements on the transport vehicle, a shifting of the center of gravity of the bridge occurs so that when unfolding the heavy bridge halves, the center of gravity of the vehicle can be disadvantageously shifted, thus possibly requiring additional support devices attached to the bridge or the installation mechanism.
In order to solve this problem, DE 1 658 621 A discloses a folding bridge with two drive-on ramps that are displaced in folding fashion from the ends of a middle piece.
The bridge described in DE 1 658 621 A is optimized with regard to unfolding the bridge on the transport vehicle.
Transportable foldable bridges, however, are transported by a wide variety of different vehicles. Since the vehicles have different designs and sizes, the vehicles have different centers of gravity. Consequently, every vehicle is not suitable for transporting a predetermined transportable foldable bridge since the length and the center of gravity of the bridge are not matched to the length and the center of gravity of the transport vehicle.